Melanesian States Natural Resource Law Features

Melanesia is a part of Oceania – an area of the Pacific Ocean,^[1] adjacent to the Northeast of the continent of Australia,^[2] including groups of islands on which 8 states are located (the Commonwealth of Australia, the French Republic, the Republic of Vanuatu, the Republic of Fiji, the Solomon Islands, the Republic of Nauru, the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, the Republic of Indonesia),^[3] dependent state entities ^[4] and the external territories of some of them. ^[5] The article continues the narrative about the features of the Pacific natural resource law, the beginning of which was published in the previous issue of the journal. ^[6]

The legal regulation of environmental management in countries whose isolated territories are located in the study area requires a separate study, with the exception of regional specifics.^[7] The purpose of our study is to identify the features of the legal regulation of subsoil use in Melanesian jurisdictions. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to solve the main tasks: to study the normative legal acts regulating the relations of subsoil use in Melanesia, as well as the relevant doctrine, offering the reader their analysis. There were no significant works on the study of natural resource law of foreign countries, in particular, Oceania states. The recognized and only classical scholar in this field is Professor B.D. Klyukin^[8], the rest of the works are fragmentary and, at most, qualitatively focused on one jurisdiction (Johannes Rat and others), or briefly characterize the general provisions or conceptual apparatus of legislation on subsoil and subsoil use of a number of key jurisdictions (D.V. Vasilevskaya^[9], Mirkerimova N.F.K.^[10], Agafonov V.B.^[11] and others). Meanwhile, the comparative legal method is not used in some scientific and qualification works (Shamordin R.O. and others)^[12], submitted for protection to the Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation, which makes more significant the published studies of natural resource law of foreign countries necessary for the use of foreign experience, as well as economic cooperation. Job offers and the information contained in it can be used both by the Russian legislator and by domestic organizations of the raw materials sector of the economy. The author in the article operated with universal dialectical, logical, historical, formal-legal, comparative-legal and other research methods. According to the reviewers, the scientific novelty of the publication consists in introducing new legal information, previously unrevealed facts, conclusions on the text of the work into circulation for an interesting readership. Following the recommendation of the publishing house, we have chosen the regional principle of presenting the scientific material presented to the reader of the study.

Australian Commonwealth

The legal regime of subsurface use in Australia is discussed in detail in one of the recent publications of the publishing house.^[13] At the same time, it does not affect the Australian territories in Melanesia and other areas of the Pacific, Indian, and Southern Oceans adjacent to the Melanesian part of Oceania, and included by the scientific community in the study region – Australia and Oceania (External territories of Australia): Norfolk Island; Christmas Island Island); Cocos Islands (Cocos (Keeling) Islands); Ashmore and Cartier Islands; Coral Sea Islands Territory; Heard Island and McDonald Islands; Australian Antarctic Territory.^[14] The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts of the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia (Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, Australian Government) manages Australian territories not included in the Union regions. At the same time, the Australian Antarctic Territory, Heard and McDonald Islands are handled by the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment of the Australian Government (Department of the Agriculture, Water and the Environment).^[15] Within the Australian state borders, there are Union-wide regulatory legal acts on nature management, ^[16] as well as special environmental and natural resource legislation of the Commonwealth adopted for isolated territories.^[17]

Ashmore and Cartier Islands^[18]

In the middle of the XIX century, industrial reserves of phosphates were discovered on these islands, and later Indonesian hydrocarbon deposits – Jabiru and Challis (Jabiru and Challis oil fields) bordering the 12-mile territorial sea were discovered. Australia and Indonesia Maritime Boundary Agreement 1996 provides for the delimitation of the maritime borders of the two states in order to delimit the extraction of carbon from the subsurface, fishing, transportation of extracted raw materials and other shipping. The Ashmore and Cartier Islands are currently equipped with military infrastructure to provide temporary basing, refueling of ships and aircraft of the Royal Australian Navy (The Royal Australian Navy),^[19] patrolling the waters of the islands to protect them from illegal exploitation of natural resources of the ocean, seabed and subsurface underwater areas. The Customs and Border Protection Service of Australia (Australian Customs and Border Protection Service) controls the turnover of natural resources of the isolated territory and the adjacent marine zone.^[20] This indicates the intensive use of minerals and biodiversity of the region, the reserve of which is provided by the creation of the Ashmore Reef National Nature Reserve (Ashmore Reef National Nature Reserve) with an area of 583 square kilometers. ^[21] The National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act of 1975^[22], which was in force from March 13, 1975 to July 16, 2000, established and ensured the functioning of this conservation area. It was replaced by the Environmental Reform (Consequential Provisions) Act 1999). Living resources, first of all, are preserved for the supply of the Australian military stationed in the region, supporting not only the legality and safety of nature management, but also controlling the south Asian waters from a military-political point of view.

The Ashmore and Cartier Islands were transferred by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Northern Territory of the Commonwealth in 1933, and directly to Australia in 1978. Thus, the administration of environmental management is conducted by the Australian government directly by the above-mentioned ministries, the management of hydrocarbon production is delegated to the Ministry of Mining and Energy of the Northern Territory of the Commonwealth of Australia (Northern Territory Department of Mines and Energy). Historically, the laws of the Commonwealth, the Northern Territory (1933-1978 – the period when Ashmore and Cartier entered the Northern Territory of Australia, as well as regulatory legal acts in the field of hydrocarbon production) and the resolutions of the Governor–General of Australia have been in force on the islands.

Coral Sea Islands

The Coral Sea Islands Act 1969^[23] created a separate territory with an area of about 780,000 square kilometers of coral and sandy islands beyond the Great Barrier Reef.^[24] Since 1901, the Australian Navy has controlled the area in question, however, the sovereignty of the English monarch over the Coral Sea islands has been exercised by the Australian Commonwealth since 1968, which bought them from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which caused this acquisition not to be included in the territories of the Union members, as well as the management of the islands directly by the Australian government.^[25] 

Nature reserves have been established on the Coral Sea islands: Coringa-Herald, Lihou Reef Middleton, Elizabeth Reefs on the basis of the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1975. The territory and the reserves created on it are administered by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, Australian Government^{[26] [27]} and the Ministry of Fisheries, Agriculture and Forestry of Australia (Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Australian Government). ^[28] Commercial fishing is licensed by the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (Australian Government).^[29] The Royal Navy and the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service monitor the territory of the islands from the sea and air.

On the Coral Sea Islands, in addition to the regulatory legal acts of the Commonwealth of Australia, the laws of the Australian Capital Territory, as well as the resolutions of the Governor-General of Australia, apply. The Supreme Court of Norfolk Island (with incorporated federal judges) exercises criminal jurisdiction over environmental crimes committed on the Coral Sea Islands.

Thus, the territory and waters of the Coral Sea Islands are the reserve of the English Crown, necessary for mineral, food and other raw materials for Australia during a period of scarcity of natural resources, including periods of global conflict, including the current supply of the Australian Navy, patrolling the waters not only of Melanesia, but also of the Asia-Pacific region as a whole. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Commonwealth of Australia, having a common monarch, use the resource base of the Coral Sea Islands to ensure a military presence in Oceania, dominance in this region together with the United States of America.

Territories of Christmas Island

and the Cocos Islands and the Indian Ocean

The Administrator of the Territories in the Indian Ocean (Administrator of the Territories of Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands)^[30] – the Christmas Islands, as well as the Cocos Islands (Keeling), is appointed by the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia and represents the Australian Government in relations with isolated territories and foreign persons. The administrator is responsible for the organization of disaster prevention and elimination of their consequences, the management of territories in emergency situations. At the same time, 51 public services are provided to organizations and residents of the territories under consideration by the Government of Western Australia. Scientific research of diverse flora and fauna, biosecurity, aquaculture, waste, farmland and natural resources of Australian territories in the Indian Ocean is carried out on applications accepted by the Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and Arts of the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia. This Commonwealth executive organ organises the operation of Christmas Island and the Cocos Islands. Christmas National Park occupies two-thirds of Christmas Island and is managed by Parks Australia.^[31]

The Local Government Act 1995^[32] provides for the creation of a local government body – the Christmas County Council, which coordinates land use, water use and forest management, construction and subsoil use under Australian law. Meanwhile, the territory was transferred to the administration of Australia only in 1958 by Singapore, which was a British colony. Until 1992, the laws of Christmas Island were largely based on Singaporean colonial legislation, although the Christmas Island Act 1958^[33] created the necessary basis for the application of Australian law and governance. This territory in the Indian Ocean has no independent legislation, the regulatory legal acts of the Commonwealth of Australia and Western Australia form the legal basis of the studied administrative territorial unit. The Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts of the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia, in full cooperation with the administrator of the Christmas Islands, fully manages them, but does not carry out law enforcement and defense functions, this is occupied by police, border guards, customs officers and the military of Australia. At the same time, the acts of the authorized Union Minister have greater legal force than the laws of Western Australia, which is a local feature.

Christmas Island has been used since 1891 for phosphate mining, which led to the introduction of an environmental fee for the restoration (reclamation) of spent phosphate mines. As a result of the strategic assessment, a plan for the sustainable development of the territory was developed, which defines actions for the creation of a land use map and the implementation of environmental protection.

The Cocos Islands (Keeling Islands) are an external territory of Australia on the basis of article 122 of the Constitution of Australia. They, like Christmas Island, do not have a territorial government, and are headed by the same administrator, run by the same ministry, have a local Coconut Islands County Council on the same basis, and apply the laws of Western Australia in addition to Commonwealth regulations. Consequently, the law, system and governance structure of both Australian Territories in the Indian Ocean are similar. In 1955, the Cocos Islands passed from the control of the British colonies of Ceylon, Straits Settlements and Singapore under the jurisdiction of Australia (The Cocos (Keeling) Islands Act 1955)^[34], on April 6, 1984, by universal vote of the islanders (Act of Self Determination 1984), it was decided to integrate into the Australian Commonwealth. Territories Law Reform Act 1992 marked the complete transition of the Cocos Islands to Australian law. ^[35] The Cocos (Keeling) Islands form the Pulu Keeling National Park,^[36] their economy is developing due to tourism and fishing, there is no subsurface use and there is no plan for the development of this Australian territory due to its significant actual integration with the People's Republic of China, which has been implementing since 1986 demographic and economic expansion to the Cocos Islands of Australia.

Norfolk Island

The Administrator of Norfolk Island is appointed by the Governor-General of Australia and represents the Commonwealth Government on the island.^[37] However, Norfolk, colonized by the British at the same time as the Australian continent, became part of Australia only in 1901, was governed until 1979 as an external territory, autonomous since 1979. In 1979 – 2016, the Norfolk administration performed local, regional and federal functions, the territory was self-governing until July 1, 2016.

By the Norfolk Island Legislation Amendment Act 2015 and Related Acts (Norfolk Island Legislation Amendment Act 2015), the Territories Legislation Amendment Act 2016 and other laws, Norfolk Island was transferred to Australian jurisdiction, self-government ended.  The Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Environment of the Australian Government became the administrator of the Commonwealth laws in relation to Norfolk, received this external territory into its administration.

On the basis of the Law on Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999), Norfolk Island National Park and Norfolk Marine Park were formed. Philip Island is declared a national park under the management of Parks Australia. The following reserves are included in the Commonwealth Heritage List: Nepean Island Reserve and Selwyn Reserve. Environmental protection is carried out jointly with the Norfolk Island Regional Council. The Queensland Government, based on an agreement with the Australian government, has been providing public services in Norfolk since January 1, 2022 (Intergovernmental Agreement on State Service Delivery to Norfolk Island). ^[38] The Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts of the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia also administers Australian laws on the external territory of Australia – Norfolk Island, communication between federal ministries and the local council for the management of Norfolk is carried out by its administrator.

Norfolk Island is a recreational facility, used as a reserve point for the placement of the English monarch and the British leadership if necessary to move it from the territory of the United Kingdom, which is why it was for a long time the most isolated Australian entity with the focus of control levers at all levels from one person – the administrator of Norfolk, which significantly excluded the leakage of information about the purposes of the intended use of the external territory. and the true reasons for the actual and legal separation of Norfolk. The demographic picture of Norfolk and the religious composition indicate the predominance of the English and Scots on the island – the service staff of the sovereign of the Australian Commonwealth – the King of England.  

Heard and McDonald Islands

The Heard Island and McDonald Islands Act of 1953 (Heard Island and McDonald Islands Act 1953) ratifies the admission to the Commonwealth of Australia of the relevant territories of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as a sub-Antarctic administrative-territorial unit administered directly by the Government of Australia by two ministries: the Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, and also the Ministries of Agriculture, Water and Environment.^[39] They implement the Law on Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999), territorial island acts – Regulations on Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation of 2000^[40], Regulation on Management and Environmental Protection ^[41], - in relation to the Heard and McDonald Marine Reserve. The geological study of the seabed, preparation for uranium mining and other nuclear activities are carried out here.

The Law on the Protection of the Sea (Prevention of Pollution from Ships) Act 1983)^[42] is implemented by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority^[43], and at the same time the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships of 1973 and the subsequent Protocol of 1978 to the relevant Convention (MARPOL 73/78) (Act implements the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships of 1973 and the subsequent 1978 Protocol to the Convention – MARPOL 73/78). Consequently, anthropogenic activities for the exploitation of the marine environment are carried out in the waters of Heard and McDonald Islands. 

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) has protected the marine animals of the region since July 1, 1975, as has the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling), signed by Australia in 1946. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982) entered into force for Australia in 1982, invoking it to prohibit fishing, scientific and hydrographic research within the territorial sea of the external territory of the Commonwealth of Australia in question. This indicates the special status of the territory as a military-industrial facility and a springboard for the development of Antarctica. On the Heard and McDonald Islands, there are also: the Convention on the Protection of the World Cultural Heritage; the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention); the Convention on the Protection of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (Bon Convention); the Agreement between the Governments of Australia and the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Migratory Birds of their Environment; the Agreement between the Governments of Australia and Japan on the Protection of Migratory Birds and Endangered Birds and their Environment; the Agreement between the Governments of Australia and the French Republic on Cooperation in the Marine Areas Adjacent to the Southern and Antarctic Territories of France, Heard Island and McDonald Islands; the Convention on Biological Diversity; the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels; Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. It is noteworthy that small islands have become the subject of international legal regimes in the field of environmental management established by the great Powers.^[44] 

Meanwhile, the islands of Heard and McDonald are not covered by the Antarctic Treaty, which distinguishes it from another part of the Australian Commonwealth, recognized only by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, New Zealand, the French Republic and the Kingdom of Norway – the Australian Antarctic Territory.

Australian Antarctic Territory^[45]

The recognition by individual countries of the State sovereignty of the Commonwealth of Australia over a part of Antarctica in violation of international law is based on the claims of these subjects of international law to other sectors of Antarctica. The Australian Antarctic territory is, as it were, open to scientists from other countries by virtue of the international legal obligations of the Australian Commonwealth, which does not prevent other States from exercising treaty rights, but proclaims the spread of Australian jurisdiction in Antarctica over an area comparable to half the surface of the People's Republic of China, but the population of this region of the globe is about 15 million times smaller than the Chinese - about a thousand a man.

The interest of economically strong States is aroused not only by Antarctica, but also by the colossal Antarctic continental shelf, for which the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Commonwealth of Australia, the French Republic, the Republic of Argentina, the Republic of Chile, the Kingdom of Norway and New Zealand have prepared applications to the International Seabed Authority.^[46]

Mining in Antarctica is prohibited indefinitely by the Protocol on Environmental Protection (Madrid Protocol). Meanwhile, environmental protection and nature management is conducted in the Australian Antarctic Territory under the laws of the Commonwealth of Australia by two ministries: the Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, as well as the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Environment. The Australian Antarctic program is led by The Antarctic Department (The Australian Antarctic Division of The Australian Government's Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water), in addition, the Australian Antarctic Strategy and the corresponding plan (Australian Antarctic Strategy and 20 Year Action Plan Update) have been adopted.^[47]

French Republic

France is a unitary state, consisting of 26 subjects – administrative territorial units of the first level, including three overseas special administrative-territorial entities: New Caledonia; Clipperton; French Southern and Antarctic Territories, which have charters that take into account the own interests of each of them as part of the Republic (Article 74 of the French Constitution).^[48] Charters may provide for the autonomy of the relevant subjects of the state and limit the application of French organic laws on them, change the subject matter of regional legislative authorities, detracting from the Republican parliament. ^[49]

 New Caledonia

 New Caledonia (Nouvelle-Cal?donie) is an overseas special administrative–territorial entity of the French Republic^[50], which is governed by the High Commissioner of New Caledonia, appointed by the President of the French Republic.^[51] Two Deputy High Commissioners are in charge of environmental management and energy, and lead the part of the commissariat dealing with natural resource relations. Article 76 of the French Constitution provided for the right of the population of New Caledonia to self-determination by holding a three-time referendum on secession from the Republic that concluded the Noum?a Agreement with the Territory (Accord de Noum?a).^[52] The final tritium referendum was held in 2022, at which about 95% of Caledonians, with a turnout of 44%, voted for integration into the French Republic and against leaving it. Accord sur la Nouvelle-Cal?donie^[53], signed on May 5, 1998, provides for the adoption of the French organic law on New Caledonia.^[54]

Loi n° 99-209 organique du 19 mars 1999 relative ? la Nouvelle-Cal?donie replaces the charter of New Caledonia and is adopted by virtue of the Treaty of Noum?an. The provinces and municipalities of the French Overseas special administrative territorial entity under study are territorial units of the French Republic (the third section of the law), and after the referendum this region has the status of a department.

Sections 6 and 18 of the Organic law under consideration establish the right of ownership of land in the following forms: private, State and ordinary (traditional). Public and private land are negotiable. Traditional lands are inalienable, non-transferable, unchangeable and not subject to seizure, their regime is regulated by customs. Such lands may be owned by citizens and organizations, they consist of reserves; as well as lands allocated to local special law groups (Kanaks – indigenous people of New Caledonia)^[55]; and lands following the real estate erected on them, even when transferring this property to persons of ordinary law (French citizens born outside New Caledonia; foreigners; Kanaks and other citizens of the republic born in New Caledonia, but who have assumed ordinary civil status). Consequently, indigenous people, ordinary citizens and organizations can own traditional lands if this traditional land serves their buildings. In addition, legal capacity in New Caledonia depends on the civil status: general or special, the content of which is disclosed in sections 7-19 of the Organic Law.

On the basis of the twentieth section of the Law, the provinces exercise, on a residual basis, those powers that are not delegated by the French Republic of New Caledonia, which has a regional parliament. France is responsible for environmental protection, while New Caledonia regulates and exercises the rights to explore, exploit, manage and conserve the natural, biological and non-biological resources of the exclusive economic zone, as well as rules concerning hydrocarbons, nickel, chromium, cobalt and rare earth elements. The economic analysis of the region indicates the concentration of a quarter of the world's proven reserves of these minerals in New Caledonia, however, the reliability of this information is subject to additional verification. At the same time, it was the colossal reserves of iron and other listed minerals as the economic basis of independence that gave rise to New Caledonian separatism, which was stopped by the metropolis in a democratic way. 

New Caledonia as a region of France, after taking into account the opinion of the advisory committee on the mining industry and the Mining Council, adopts, on the basis of section 39 of the organic law, a plan for the development of minerals describing the mining property used (mining enterprises); prospects for the exploitation of deposits; guidelines for environmental protection during the exploitation of deposits; a list of territories subordinate to the special mining police; directions of development of rational subsoil use; principles of mineral export policy.

The New Caledonia Mining Advisory Committee consists of representatives of the French Republic, representatives of the Government of New Caledonia, representatives of the bicameral regional Parliament – the Congress of New Caledonia and the Senate of Customary Law of New Caledonia, representatives of provinces and municipalities of New Caledonia, industry delegates of trade unions, as well as environmental associations. He is consulted by the New Caledonian Congress on draft laws, and the New Caledonian municipal authorities on draft acts of the provincial assembly, if they relate to hydrocarbons, nickel, chromium, cobalt or rare earth elements and do not relate to the procedure for approving foreign direct investment.

The Mountain Council consists of the President of the Government of New Caledonia, the Presidents of the provincial assemblies or their representatives, and the High Commissioner of New Caledonia, who heads the Mountain Council. The Congress of New Caledonia consults with the Mining Council on bills related to hydrocarbons, nickel, chromium, cobalt and rare earths related to foreign direct investment. Provincial assemblies are also consulted with him on draft regulatory legal acts of local significance affecting subsurface use within the boundaries of the respective municipalities. A feature of the New Caledonian property system is the presence of public and private ownership of land in France, New Caledonia, provinces and communes. Thus, the State, its subject and municipalities in New Caledonia have not only republican and regional state property, and municipalities have municipal property, there is no municipal property in New Caledonia at all, provinces and communes use the state property of the unitary republic transferred to them for use. Public legal entities – The French Republic, New Caledonia and its municipalities have the right of private ownership and the right of public ownership, which is unique. This means that land and other natural resources can be in the state ownership of public entities, as well as in their private or public ownership. Ownerless lands become the property of New Caledonia, and not municipalities as in British-controlled states. But it is the provinces of New Caledonia that regulate and exercise the rights to explore, exploit, manage and preserve the biological and non-biological natural resources of inland waters, harbors and lagoons, their soils and subsoil, as well as the bottom and subsoil of the territorial sea (section 46 of the Organic Law).

The Economic, Social and Environmental Council of New Caledonia advises the regional Parliament and representative bodies of local self-government on environmental protection, its functions are also provided for in the organic law of the Noumean Treaty.

There are five environmental executive authorities in New Caledonia:

· Territorial representation of the French Bureau of Biodiversity (l'Office fran?ais de la biodiversit?), established on January 1, 2020 under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Environmental Transformation, Territorial Unity, Food Sovereignty and Agriculture (Transition ?cologique et de la Coh?sion des territoires et de l'Agriculture et de la Souverainet? alimentaire), which manages and protects marine environment of New Caledonia, as well as flora and fauna, implementing environmental policy and environmental advocacy;

· territorial representation of the Environmental Transition Agency (l'Agence de la transition ?cologique), which is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Environmental Transformation, Territorial Unity, Food Sovereignty and Agriculture, as well as the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation (minist?re de l'Enseignement sup?rieur, de la Recherche et de l'Innovation), engaged in the transfer of the economy to energy-saving technologies, renewable energy sources, tax incentives for clean production, expertise of environmental projects, modernization of waste management;

·        The Agency for Rural Development and Land Management of New Caledonia (Agence de D?veloppement Rural et d'Am?nagement Foncier) is an operator of land reform of the overseas special administrative-territorial entity of the French Republic of New Caledonia, engaged in land allotments of the usual regime, restitution of Kanak lands (conversion of ordinary lands into traditional ones), land security and land valuation, assistance in land use planning, support for the development of agriculture;

· The Office of the State Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Environment for New Caledonia (La direction du service d'?tat de l'agriculture, de la for?t et de l'environnement) functions under the leadership of the High Commissioner for New Caledonia in the implementation of international obligations in the field of ecology and nature management, local initiatives and projects, financial management of agricultural and natural resource sectors of the economy; performs under the patronage of the French Minister of Agriculture and Food (Sous l'autorit? du ministre de l'agriculture et de l'alimentation) the administration of agriculture in New Caledonia; performs under the auspices of New Caledonia the organization of agricultural training and management of natural resources;

· The Department of Industry, Mining and Energy of New Caledonia (Direction de l'Industrie, des Mines et de l'?nergie de la Nouvelle-Cal?donie) was established in 1873 as Bureau des Mines - the Mining Administration of New Caledonia, which acted as the operator of mining legislation and inherited this function, to which mining supervision and environmental monitoring were added environment, as well as the development of energy and natural resources of this special overseas territory.

The Department of Industry, Mining and Energy of New Caledonia (Direction de l'Industrie, des Mines et de l'?nergie de la Nouvelle-Cal?donie) consists of six departments and a laboratory for the study of minerals, it performs the following functions:

· tariff regulation of prices for hydrocarbons and electricity, technical control of power transmission lines, financing of energy-saving measures;

· coordination of mineral resources development (mining cadastre management, mining police, export control, statistics);

· control of production activities that may have an impact on the environment, health and safety of people (police of classified installations, control of equipment operating under pressure, legislative metrology);

· Providing the best knowledge of the terrestrial and marine geological structures of New Caledonia to justify land-use planning policies for sustainable development.

The Department carries out mining supervision, including in relation to oil and gas companies operating the New Caledonian deposits: Mobil, SSP, TOTAL Pacific, SLN DBO, Enercal N?poui, Vale, as well as industrial supervision of waste disposal and turnover of explosives used for the extraction of solid minerals.

The Department of Industry, Mining and Energy of New Caledonia is responsible for the proper execution of the Code minier de la Nouvelle- Cal?donie. Laurent L'Huillier, Tanguy Jaffr?, Adrien Wulff in the book "Mines et Environnement en Nouvelle-Cal?donie: les milieux sur substrats ultramafiques et leur restauration" on 30-31 pages describe environmental requirements for subsurface use, listing regulatory legal acts regulating this area: Code minier 2010 (Loi du pays n° 2009-6 du 16 avril 2009 relative au code minier de la Nouvelle-Cal?donie (partie l?gislative)), D?lib?ration n° 104 et Fonds Nickel, Code de l'environnement de la province Nord, Code de l'environnement de la province Sud.^[56] I would like to disagree with these authors, limited to the listed regulations establishing the legal regime subsoil use in New Caledonia. These New Caledonian environmental and natural resource acts were adopted by the Parliament of New Caledonia under the jurisdiction of a special overseas administrative-territorial unit of the French Republic, however, the list of these acts is incomplete. The authors do not take into account environmental legislation and legislation on subsoil and subsoil use of the French Republic, as well as acts of the French administration, documents of provinces and communes. Meanwhile, especially after the final referendum on the self-determination of New Caledonia, the legal regime of subsoil use and environmental protection is established by French republican legislation and regulated by New Caledonian and municipal regulatory legal acts on a residual basis. The exploitation of solid minerals on land is still based on the permits of local assemblies, agreed with the French Republic through advisory institutions: the mining committee and the Mining Council. At the same time, the service of mining inspectors, as, for example, in the Australian Union, is called the mining police, whose activities are regulated by New Caledonian law by virtue of the organic law.

Obtaining a permit for the use of mineral resources is preceded by an environmental impact assessment by the mining company and public hearings. There are two types of subsurface use: geological exploration of the subsurface and exploitation of the subsurface (industrial exploration and development), in addition, there is communal exploitation of the subsurface – a type of use of deposits to meet the public needs of the region. A subsurface use application for obtaining the right to search and extract solid minerals must contain a plan for the reclamation of the deposit.

The assemblies give the subsoil user permission to use subsurface areas (zones mini?re du projet) for a period determined by them, which the local authorities can extend at the request of the owner of the relevant permit. Concessions for the use of the subsoil of the land and sea are concluded by the High Commissioner of New Caledonia under the legislation of the French Republic, which regulates all types of nature management in the Pacific Ocean. The range of subjects for obtaining the right to use the subsoil is not limited, but the admission of foreign investors to the deposits is carried out by the republican authorities. France, New Caledonia, provinces and communes may establish State and municipal institutions for the implementation of subsoil use. Uranium mining is carried out only by state-owned companies on the basis of a special permit issued by the French Government.

Thus, New Caledonia is a source of a significant amount of minerals entering industrial circulation, has a centuries-old history of subsurface exploitation and the development of the environmental protection system as part of the French Republic, which actively uses the mineral resource base of its overseas special administrative-territorial entity in connection with the trends of decentralization of the region and in order to avoid the expansion of economic activity in the region. from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America, the People's Republic of China. 

Republic of Vanuatu

Vanuatu (R?publique du Vanuatu / Republic of Vanuatu) was a Franco–British condominium colony until 1980, formally an independent state since July 30, 1980^[57] – the date of entry into force of the Constitution of the Republic of Vanuatu of 1979.^[58] The Republic is headed by the President; the legislative branch is represented by a unicameral Parliament; the executive branch is represented by the Council of Ministers, headed by the Prime Minister; the judicial system is formed by the Supreme, Appellate, village and Island courts, the Chief Justice and other judges. The model of the state structure can be characterized as hybrid, mixed: Anglo-French. Chapter 12 of the Constitution establishes the foundations of land legal relations in this State.

All land in the Republic of Vanuatu belongs to the indigenous (indigenous population) and their descendants (Articles 73, 74 of the Constitution of Vanuatu), so a land dispute is resolved between the protectorates and the newly independent republic, which can own the acquired land in order to use it for public needs. The state is obliged to categorize land at the legislative level, as well as to introduce permitted types of use of land plots. The peculiarity of the Republic of Vanuatu is the assignment of all lands to the local population, this technique has long been used by the British to reserve lands in Australia and Oceania, if it was not possible to transfer them to the state or the Crown, or it was necessary to keep them in reserve to exclude the relevant land plots from trade. Since the United Kingdom is still not the only dominant Power in the Republic, the turnover of land is limited to the proclamation of land as the property of indigenous people. This makes the lands of Vanuatu inaccessible to French economically active entities in this region.

The state has organized a search for minerals, since neighboring New Caledonia served as an effective example of their development, however, no hydrocarbon deposits have been discovered at present, as well as polymetallic nodules. Insignificant reserves of gold and manganese have been found on the islands, their development is not underway.^[59]   

Land use, land management, land valuation, quarrying and mineral prospecting are regulated by two laws: the Land Reform Act of 2014 (Land Reform (Amendment) Act No. 11 of 2014) and the Land Valuation Act of 2009 (Valuation of Land Act No. 22 of 2014). The Law on Environmental Management and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Vanuatu (Environmental Management and Conservation Act 2002), ^[60] The Law on Water Resources Management of the Republic of Vanuatu (Water Resources Management Act 2006), ^[61] and other republican regulatory legal acts: Regulations on Environmental Impact Assessment (Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations 2012), ^[62] National Parks Act 1993, International Trade (Fauna and Flora) Act 1989, ^[63] Waste Management Act 2014, ^[64] Pollution Control Act (Pollution (Control) Act 2013), ^[65] The Ozone Layer Protection Act 2010, administered by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Forestry, Fisheries and Biosecurity of the Republic of Vanuatu (Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Forestry, Fisheries, and Biosecurity)^[66], and Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources of the Republic of Vanuatu (Lands and Natural Resources)^[67]. Vanuatu National Water Strategy for 2018 – 2030 (Vanuatu National Water Strategy 2018 - 2030).^[68] The legislation on subsoil and subsoil use has not been adopted in order to restrict access to minerals. However, in the civil law of the Republic of Vanuatu there is an institution of concession, which is used as a contractual form of subsurface use, which made it possible to conduct a geological study of the subsoil of territories and water areas, ensuring the development of deposits of common minerals for the construction industry of the economy.  

Thus, in the Republic of Vanuatu, a regulatory legal framework and state mechanisms have been created for the protection of the environment and the exploitation of natural resources, the latter is not carried out in view of the conflict of interests between the United Kingdom and the French Republic, the solution of which is possible under the Antarctic scenario by organizing joint subsurface use of protectors with the payment of royalties to a dependent State – the Republic of Vanuatu.

Republic of Fiji

The Fijian Constitution (Constitution of The Republic of Fiji 2013)^[69], which has been operating since September 7, 2013, receives the Westminster model of public administration, for this reason and because of the loyalty of the ruling establishment to the United Kingdom, the Republic of Fiji was re-admitted to the British Commonwealth of Nations, since until October 10, 1970, this state was under the rule of the British crown.

   The President of the Republic of Fiji heads the State and the executive branch, represented by the Government – Cabinet (Cabinet or a Minister), but, in fact, replaces the place previously occupied by the British Governor-General. Legislative power is concentrated in the hands of the unicameral Parliament, and judicial power includes the Supreme, Appellate Courts, as well as magistrate courts.

Article 29 of the Constitution of the Republic of Fiji contains a provision confirming the inviolability of the property rights of property owners who owned it before the Constitution came into force. Property can be either public or private. However, traditional ownership is a special type of land ownership that is not alienable and belongs to the indigenous population. The exception is the seizure of traditional property by the State for public needs in a legal manner. Land that has been removed from the title of "iTaukei" (ordinary possession of the indigenous population) is subject to return to the original owner and the title of "iTaukei" if it is no longer used by the state for public purposes. Paragraphs 4 and 5 of the twenty-eighth article of the Fijian Constitution establish a special regime for the ownership of Rotuman and Banaban lands "Rotuman land" and "Banaban land", which is withdrawn from circulation and can only be used by the local indigenous population. The Republic has the right to seize land on the islands of Rotuman and Banaba for temporary use for public needs, followed by the return of the seized plots to the indigenous population.  

The concepts of "land leases” or “land tenancies" are used in article twenty-ninth article of the Constitution, their content is disclosed to indicate possible land transactions, including leases for subsoil use purposes. At the same time, rentiers can receive income from minerals when they are extracted from the bowels of their land or reservoir, as provided for in article 30 of the Constitution of the Republic of Fiji. The rent of the owners of land and the bottom of reservoirs from subsurface use within their property, including the bottom of the territorial sea adjacent to traditional lands, is calculated based on: the income of the subsurface user from the exploitation of the deposit; environmental damage and the costs of the subsurface user for land reclamation or compensation for environmental damage; contributions to the state environmental fund, whose funds go to compensation environmental consequences of subsurface use; costs for the administration of mineral exploration and development, costs for subsurface use; payments for the use of subsurface resources carried out by the subsurface user in favor of the Republic of Fiji. The Fair Share of Mineral Royalties Act 2018 provides for deductions to both the owner of the land plot and the state for geological exploration of the subsoil in order to search for minerals in the territory of the Republic of Fiji.

 The Minister of Lands and Mineral Resources (Minister for Lands and Mineral Resources) manages the land use and Subsoil use of the Republic of Fiji, the Minister for iTaukei Affairs (Minister for iTaukei Affairs) takes into account the rights of the indigenous population in the exploitation of natural resources, the Minister of Agriculture and Waterways (Minister for Agriculture and Waterways) is responsible for the development of ocean resources, the Minister Public Works, Transport and Meteorological Services (Minister for Public Works, Transport and Meteorological Services) oversees environmental monitoring, emergency management and prevention of the consequences of natural disasters, environmental disasters.

The Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources of the Republic of Fiji^[70] manages the State land fund, which makes up 3% of the total land area of the islands. The rest of the land is private and iTaukei. Private land is mostly leased, the register of tenants and sub-tenants is maintained by the Ministry in question.^[71]

The Fiji Environmental Management Act 2005 provides for the inventory of natural resources and the adoption of a national resource management plan (article 25). The cadastre of natural resources and the national plan for their management are compiled on the basis of an inventory of natural objects. The Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources of the Republic of Fiji has a department responsible for inventory, cadastre and planning of environmental management, as well as for environmental protection activities, including on the basis of the atlas of vulnerability of coastal areas, responding to environmental offenses and natural disasters. The unit conducts environmental studies and inspects natural objects, collects geographical information and information on natural resources for the compilation of the inventory of natural resources (Article 13). The Law on Surveyors (Surveyors Act 1969) and the Regulations on Geodetic Surveys (Surveyors Regulations 2021) define the procedure for mapping and determining the boundaries of land plots, lines of urban planning regulation, technical requirements for geodetic survey methods, interpretation of field data. The boundaries of water bodies are established along the low tide line, which, in accordance with the fifth article of the Water Resources Tax Act (Water Resource Tax Act 2008), is used to determine the area of the reservoir for calculating the water tax. However, watered quarries are not water bodies and land tax is paid from them, not water, - Quarries Act 1939.

The Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources of the Republic of Fiji is assisted by the Fiji National Trust, which, according to the third article of the Fiji National Trust Act (1970), is obliged to contribute to the permanent conservation of natural resources, the protection of wildlife and flora, protecting their marine habitat. At the same time, any person affected by the nature user can apply to the court with a civil claim for compensation for damage to health, property, the environment, lost profits and real damage, as provided for in article 50 of the Fiji Environmental Management Act.

The Petroleum (Exploration and Exploitation) Act 1978, as well as the Maritime Transport Act or the Maritime Code of Fiji (Maritime Transport Act 2013/Fiji Maritime Code) regulate the exploration, production, and transportation of hydrocarbons, safe subsurface use in Fiji's offshore oil and gas fields. The elimination of accidents and consequences of natural disasters in the ocean, as well as pollution of the marine environment by subsoil users, is regulated by the Law on Natural Disaster Management (Natural Disaster Management Act 1998). This fully ensures the right of every Fijian to a clean and healthy environment, the protection of the natural world for the benefit of present and future generations, provided for in the fortieth article of the Constitution of the Republic of Fiji. It should be noted that the Fiji Maritime Spaces Act 1977 does not contain rules that contradict the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Regulation of the construction, maintenance and use of installations for the exploration or development of the seabed, subsurface underwater areas, protection of marine living resources, laying of underwater pipelines, cables, fisheries and navigation is implemented by the Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources of the Republic of Fiji jointly with the Fijian Minister of Public Works, Transport and Meteorological Services by virtue of the Continental Shelf Act (Continental Shelf Act 1970). Subsoil use on the continental shelf of the Republic of Fiji is carried out by Fijian organizations, as well as by foreign investors or with their participation. In order to obtain the right to use mineral resources, a foreign legal entity must be entered in the register of foreign investors in accordance with the third article of the Foreign Investment Act 1999. The concept of investment is disclosed in the Investment Act (Investment Act 2021). The Petroleum (Exploration and Exploitation) Act 1978 provides for the admission to oil and gas fields of both Fijian legal entities and foreign, as well as joint ventures. The Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources accepts applications from subsurface users for licensing exploration, mining (permission to operate a mining enterprise on islands), offshore production (permission to operate a raw material enterprise at sea), laying and using an offshore pipeline, oil transmission through a pipeline, for which it charges appropriate payments from subsurface users. The Law on Oil Exploration and Development (Article 49) provides for the accounting of production licenses (Record of Production Licenses) and pipeline licenses (Record of Pipeline Licenses). Transport licenses for the "sea route" are registered separately. Licenses for marine subsurface use (combined licenses for the search for minerals and their extraction) are issued for a period of 21 years with the possibility of extension for 5 years (Article 18). The license for the pipeline is issued for the duration of the construction project, and then for the period of transfer of hydrocarbons through it, is extended by the Minister when submitting the relevant application to him no later than 6 months before the expiration of the current permit. The validity periods of pipeline licenses and the terms of their extension are determined individually based on economic needs. Subsurface use on the islands is licensed by the same ministry under the same conditions as in the marine environment, but the terms of subsurface use are determined by the type of mineral, that is, they are differentiated. Mainly, gold and accompanying silver are mined in Fiji.  Regulatory legal acts regulating subsurface use are contained in a special register of officially published documents.^[72]

The abundance of natural resources of the Republic of Fiji caused the unsuccessful attempts of the ruling elite to free themselves from the British protectorate and independently administer the natural resources of the republic, which still came under the control of the United Kingdom as a resource donor to the Australian Union, the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Indonesia, as well as Japan. Consequently, the geopolitical position of the Pacific states affects the intensity of exploitation of their natural resources: the closer to the Asian region, the more intensive the use of the natural resources of the islands and waters by the Anglo-Saxon coalition in order to extract economic benefits, priority exhaustion near Asian areas due to the risk of their transition to the control of the People's Republic of China and other countries claiming to these resource bases.  

Solomon Islands

The statehood of the Solomon Islands^[73] is based on the Constitution (The Constitution of Solomon Islands 1978)^[74] as amended in 2022.^[75] However, after the declaration of independence from the United Kingdom, the monarch of England, represented by the Governor-General, became the head of the Solomon Islands.^[76] Executive branch – the Government consists of the Governor-General and the Cabinet, headed by the Prime Minister and including other ministers appointed from among the members of the unicameral Parliament (National Parliament of Solomon Islands). Until the adoption by this body of laws replacing the normative legal acts of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, British laws are in force in the jurisdiction of the Solomon Islands, and justice is administered under common English law. The High Court of the Solomon Islands, the Chief Judge, the Court of Appeal of the Solomon Islands, the District Court of the capital City of Honiara and the equivalent district (provincial) courts, as well as the Solomon Islands Land Court exercise judicial power. Consequently, the state apparatus is built on the principles of the Westminster system of government.

Articles 110 – 113 of the Constitution of the Solomon Islands ^[77] provides for unlimited ownership of land for residents of this state, meaning, within the meaning of articles 20 – 26 of this document, its citizens and Britons living on the islands. Land may be in public and private ownership. Since the Solomon Islands is a unitary State, the lands of the districts are State, not municipal property.

According to the constitution, lands have a general regime, therefore, the Solomon Islands have moved away from traditional ownership, however, the legislator can return such – ordinary (traditional) ownership of land, assign the corresponding right indefinitely to a specific owner or to an indigenous community, as well as cancel the relevant normative legal acts on traditional land. The seizure of any land is allowed by the Constitution only on legal grounds with prior proportionate and fair monetary compensation to the owner of the land plot and only after unsuccessful negotiations with him on the voluntary alienation of immovable property under the contract.

The Cabinet includes 21 ministries and the Office of the Prime Minister.^[78] Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock)^[79] manages land through the Department of Agricultural Planning and Land Use, and is also responsible for cartography conducted by the Geographic Information System group. The Biosecurity Department^[80] of this ministry, in accordance with the Biosecurity Act 2013, fights pests and diseases. Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology (Ministry of Environment Climate Change Disaster Management and Meteorology)^[81] acts as the operator of several laws: The Environment Act 1998, the Wild Life Protection and Management Act 1998, the Protected Areas Act 2010, the Meteorology Act 1985, the National Council Act on Natural Disasters (National Disaster Council Act 1989) and others. The main tasks of the Ministry are environmental conservation, meteorology, environmental monitoring and disaster management.  The Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources^[82] not only issues fishing licenses, but also coordinates and controls the use of all marine natural resources. The Ministry of Forestry and Research (Ministry of Forestry and Research) is guided by the Forest Resources and Timber Utilization Act (Forest Resources and Timber Utilization Act) in order to implement a program for the development of forests and reforestation, forest resources management, transfer of forest plots for use, licensing of logging, processing and export of products of the forest industry. The Ministry of Lands, Housing and Survey (Ministry of Lands, Housing and Survey) implements land reform for the transition from communal lands to ordinary civil circulation while preserving traditional land ownership, is responsible for urban planning, land valuation, cadastral system and land accounting, geographical maps, land management and land fund management. This Ministry oversees land transactions, including leases and subleases, registers land transactions and ensures timely lease payments. Land transactions are made in written electronic form, as well as the conclusion of lease agreements (subleases), through the website of the Government of the Solomon Islands. Payment under contracts of sale, barter, donation, lease, sublease and others with invoicing is carried out through the same government website, which provides financial monitoring, control over business activities and proper accounting of individuals at their place of residence and place of their stay. ^[83] The site allows you to register real estate rights, get access to registry books, cadastral plans, real estate registry, registration books of land transactions, renew existing contracts and a construction license obtained through the government website. Similar experience of the Solomon Islands can be adopted by the Russian Federation, including in terms of obtaining electronic licenses for the right to use mineral resources through https://solomons.gov.sb /. 

The Ministry of Mining, Energy and Rural Electrification (The Ministry of Mines, Energy & Rural Electrification) implements the National Mineral Policy ^[84] and the Declaration on Water Resources Management (Water Governance Awareness)^[85]. This ministry consists of five departments:

· Geological Survey Division, which deals with geological exploration, mapping, geochemistry, seismology and petrology;

· Department of Mines (Mines Division), supervising the mining industry, carrying out industrial supervision, including during the construction of buildings, responsible for the economic efficiency of subsurface use;

· Department of Water Resources (Water Resources Division) responsible for drilling wells, water management and hydrology;

· Petroleum Department (Petroleum Division), responsible for the management of the hydro-carbon economy and oil and gas activities;

· Department of Energy (Energy Division), responsible for energy conservation and energy efficiency, protection of the ozone layer from harmful emissions into the atmosphere, renewable energy sources, oil and gas complex and electric power industry.

In addition, the resource sector is represented by state-owned companies: energy^[86] and water management^[87]. The Ministry of Mining, Energy and Electrification of Rural Areas interacts with customs, the diplomatic department, the Republican Audit Service, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and other executive authorities involved in the implementation of state policies in the field of environmental management.^[88]

The Ministry of Mining, Energy and Electrification of Rural Areas issues a license to search for minerals and precious metals on the basis of an electronic application in the prescribed form^[89]. The exploration license ^[90] begins to be issued by the Ministry after payment of the established license fees to the Treasury under the Ministry of Finance. The applicant must confirm the sufficiency of financial resources, technical competence to conduct effective intelligence work, as well as the viability of the search program. The Director of the Department of Mines considers the application of a potential subsoil user and, if the submitted document meets the formal criteria, submits it to the Council of Mining and Minerals for decision-making (Miners and Mineral Board).^[91]

On the basis of Article 11 of the Law on Subsoil and Subsoil Use (Mines and Minerals Act)^[92] all projects of licenses for exploration (Prospecting Licenses) and mining (Mining Leases) of minerals, lease of mine workings, for the production of construction materials, licenses for the operation of special land plots and subsoil plots, licenses for access to roads, as well as gold trading licenses are reviewed and approved by the Mining and Minerals Council prior to the issuance of appropriate licenses or permits by the Minister of Mining of the Solomon Islands.^[93] A license for mining is also issued on the basis of an electronic application.^[94]

Having received an application for geological exploration, the Miners and Mineral Board may approve the issuance of a license, reject the application or announce a tender for the right to use the subsoil of the requested search area. The Minister of Mining, Energy and Rural Electrification notifies the Prosecutor General of the issuance of a prospecting license for a subsoil plot, and the Director of the Mines Department notifies the applicant of the decision. After that, the applicant agrees with all landowners on the use of their plots for geological exploration, concludes contracts with them on payment for the use of land plots for conducting mineral prospecting within their borders. The specified Ministry is obliged to provide administrative support to the subsoil user to resolve disputes with landowners of the territory where geological exploration of the subsoil is allowed. Landowners who disagree with the civil conditions of exploitation of their lands by the subsoil user, instead of contractual payments, land rent is paid in a public legal manner to the accounts opened to the relevant landowners in the credit institution by the Department of Mines, in the amount determined by the ministry, which is considered sufficient to compensate the subsoil user for the use of someone else's land for the purposes of geological exploration of the subsoil. We propose to use the above experience of the Solomon Islands in the Russian Federation.

After agreeing with the owners of the lands to use their plots for subsurface use under civil legal agreements, as well as the obligation in public legal order of persons who have not concluded these contracts with the subsurface user to provide land for exploration on a reimbursable basis, a copy of the prospecting license - Prospecting Licenses – is sent to the provinces within which the license area is located.

The license is issued by the Ministry for the period required by the subsoil user, defined in the license itself, which we have already met in the Kingdom of Tonga.^[95] The Minister of Mining, Energy and Electrification of Rural Areas not only oversees the use of subsoil within the framework of the issued license in accordance with the conditions specified therein, but also extends the use of subsoil for an economically justified and necessary period for the license holder. Such a legally fixed practice can be used in the Russian Federation.

A feature of the legislation of the Solomon Islands^[96] is the declarative procedure for environmental damage. The subsoil user pays for the environmental impact assessment himself, compensates for the damage caused to the owner of the land plot and the state, pays for the costs of land reclamation and restoration of nature by the contractor hired by him, or does it independently and at his own expense. The Ministry and the affected landowners are informed about the restoration of the natural environment damaged during the study of the subsoil in the form. Administrative and criminal liability of subsoil users occurs only if they evade compliance with the civil law compensatory mechanism. We propose to use a similar scheme of compensation for environmental damage by subsoil users in the Russian Federation.

Mining is carried out on the basis of an application for the right to use the subsoil on the basis of a lease or mining license.^[97] A lease or mining license is granted by the Ministry of Mining, Energy and Rural Electrification of the Solomon Islands in the same manner as a prospecting and exploration license. Thus, the right to use mineral resources on the territory of the islands is granted in a uniform manner on the basis of four types of licenses: first, search, second, exploration; third, mining; fourth, rental. In addition, there is an alluvial license issued by the Department of Mines to any citizen of the Solomon Islands over the age of 21 for the extraction of loose gold on his land plot or the land plot of the province where this person owns the land, for a period of up to 1 year with the possibility of extension for no longer than the same period. If the applicant is not a landowner in a particular province, then alluvial mining is possible only within the boundaries of the plots of owners who have given alluvial permission. Without the consent of the owner, alluvial extraction is not possible, except for the owners of the lands of the relevant province by virtue of the law. Other subjects of the right to use subsurface resources, except for alluvial ones, can only be legal entities, including foreign investors, for whom the most favored nation regime has been introduced by the Solomon Islands, a register of foreign investors is maintained, their admission to subsurface use is carried out in a general manner.^[98] It should be noted that the antimonopoly legislation limits the share of one individual in a subsoil user organization to five percent and does not allow such a person to own legal entities participating in a subsoil user company by more than five percent. This minimizes the risk of concentration of income from the exploitation of natural resources in one hand or in the hands of a narrow group of persons, which does not prevent the use of front (trusted) individuals for the registration of commercial companies in order to evade antitrust requirements with the resulting legal, economic and managerial risks.

Subsurface users under an alluvial license have the right to sell the gold they have extracted only to holders of a Gold Dealer's License. We propose to apply alluvial licensing in certain regions of the Russian Federation.

The Ministry of Mining, Energy and Rural Electrification issues licenses for geological exploration – Petroleum Prospecting License and development (oil production) – Petroleum Development License in the waters of the Solomon Islands in accordance with the recommendations of the Petroleum Advisory Board.^[99] Meanwhile, the turnover of oil and gas resources is controlled by issuing licenses for the possession of hydrocarbons (License to Possess Petroleum). Licensing of offshore oil activities is carried out in electronic form and is described on the website of the relevant ministry.^[100]

Having familiarized with the experience of licensing the subsoil use of the Solomon Islands in order to achieve transparency of administrative procedures, competitiveness of Russian oil and gas production, economic efficiency of the domestic fuel and energy complex, we propose the Russian Federation to borrow the experience of the Solomon Islands in terms of the transition of granting the right to use the subsoil and other permissive administrative procedures carried out by public authorities in electronic form, leveling the corruption factor and minimizing the time spent on the execution of administrative regulations, therefore, reducing the burden on civil servants and budget expenditures on the organization of the work of the state mechanism.

Republic of Nauru

Nauru (Republic of Nauru)^[101] is a Pacific state in which the period of colonization by the British was replaced by a German protectorate, followed by joint administration by the Australian Union, New Zealand and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland following the results of World War II on the basis of a mandate from the League of Nations, and then the United Nations. The formal independence of the mandated Republic of Nauru was proclaimed on January 31, 1968, but in fact this state still remains economically and politically dependent on the Commonwealth of Australia. The President of Nauru is elected by the unicameral Parliament from among its members, the Speaker of the Parliament and his Deputy (Deputy Speaker) cannot be candidates for the post of head of state. Executive power is exercised by the Cabinet ^[102], headed by the President of the Republic and including ministers appointed by the Head of State from among the members of Parliament (Parliament of Nauru), consisting of 18 people elected by the citizens of this country. The judiciary is represented by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Nauru, the Court of Appeal, and fourteen district courts (articles 16 – 57 of the Constitution of Nauru). Consequently, Nauru, as a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations, implements the Westminster model of public administration. ^[103]   

The Ministry of Environmental Management and Agriculture (Department of Environment Management and Agriculture) and the Ministry of Land Management (Department for Land Management) implement the state policy in the field of environmental management.^[104] At the beginning of the XIX century, industrial extraction of phosphates began in Nauru, the deposits of which are currently being depleted, the reserves will last for about two decades at the current rate of quarrying. The Pacific Phosphate Company, formed in 1902 as a result of the merger of South Pacific Company Ltd and Jaluit Gesellschaft, received exclusive rights to extract phosphates on the territory of the colony of Nauru, having an Australian domicile, works to this day as the only subsoil user in the island part of the Republic of Nauru.^[105] The right to use the subsoil of this company is granted under English law, the applicable law in resolving disputes with Pacific Phosphate Company is the common law of the United Kingdom. That is why the Republic of Nauru accused the Commonwealth of Australia of state protectionism and appealed to the International Court of Justice of the United Nations to recover compensation from Australia for damage to land caused by an Australian subsoil user who received the exclusive right to develop phosphates on the island during the protectorate, confirmed during the mandatory period, on unfavorable conditions for the Republic of Nauru, including without land reclamation spent mines. Compact of Settlement concluded the international dispute between the States with the payment of 107,000,000 Australian dollars to the Republic of Nauru by the Commonwealth of Australia.^[106]

It is impossible to agree with the position of the American associate professor, Doctor of Law Ramon E. Reyes Jr. from the New York School of Law (New York University School of Law), set out in the work Nauru v. Australia: The International Fiduciary Duty and The Settlement of Nauru's Claims for Aims for Rehabilitation of Phosphate Lands ^[107] that the issuance of a permit in the colony of Nauru caused damage to the environment and the Republic of Nauru, in particular the lack of licensing conditions (requirements) for the reclamation of the lands of spent phosphate quarries. Restoration of lands, including soils, is not possible due to the geological structure of the island of Nauru, they simply do not exist there and have not been there: for thousands of years birds have been throwing guano, which turned into phosphate naturally, to the coral island.^[108] The subsurface user cleaned off the phosphate by an open mining method and exposed the mother coral reef forming the island. The concentration of phosphorus did not allow plants to grow on its thickness, therefore, there were no soils, vegetation to be restored after mining phosphate quarries. Pacific Phosphate Company ensured the development of the island's infrastructure (construction of a port, roads, educational institutions, medical organizations), created jobs, paid taxes, provided a shortage of labor with one of the highest gross domestic product in the world, based on approximately ten thousand people of the island, during the peak of production. At the same time, the subsoil user supported the local culture, developed coastal agriculture, provided the country with seafood by purchasing two fishing vessels, since there was no civilian or any fleet in the republic before. Thus, the company has contributed to the social and economic development of the Republic of Nauru, creating almost all of its infrastructure. In addition, the Australian government proposed to relocate the citizens of Nauru to Australia, and the island, which is not suitable for life and is a quarry in the form of a huge phosphorus crater, completely turn into a mining enterprise. The islanders refused to immigrate, and local authorities and self-government lose their status and authority after immigration to another state. Thus, the Australian Commonwealth and Pacific Phosphate Company have taken the necessary measures of social support for the islanders related to subsurface use, some of which the residents of Nauru refused. It was not possible to compensate for the damage to the soil due to the initial absence of a soil layer in the quarries. The Court should have refused the Republic of Nauru to satisfy the claims for environmental damage, but Compact of Settlement had political significance for the parties to an international legal dispute related to the continuation of the de facto protectorate of the Australian Union and New Zealand in relation to the Republic of Nauru, covered the legality of transferring Australian taxpayers' money to the Cabinet of Nauru, especially since the compensation paid it was not spent and could not be spent on the reclamation of the island's lands or its development. The money was credited to the state apparatus, sent to reserve funds, which gradually disappeared from the sight of local residents from foreign government accounts. The Republic of Nauru abused the right to compensation for environmental damage to the island's land, which did not take place, and, demanding appropriate compensation, forced the Commonwealth of Australia to pay for the political loyalty of the leadership of the Republic of Nauru to the Anglo-Saxon coalition in the Pacific and in the international arena, covering up the fraud with a lawsuit. ^[109]

Land laws (Lands Act 1976, Land (Declaration of Ownership) Ordinance 1962, Lands (Validating) Ordinance 1951) were adopted in Nauru, they provide for the registration of rights to land plots, while all lands belong to the indigenous population, and the state has the right only to lease land plots that are in traditional ownership. At the same time, the rent is managed by local authorities, which turns this kind of rent into a fiction: it has the legal nature of subsidies paid by the republican government of a unitary state to administrative-territorial units – municipal districts. The institution of universal traditional ownership allows the republican authorities not to bear the costs of land management and reclamation. Nauru Energy Act is only planned to be adopted, as well as many other acts in the field of ecology and biosafety.^[110] Water and Sanitation Master Plan is a key act of water use, there is no specialized water and forestry legislation in the Republic of Nauru,^[111] environmental law has not been formed either.^[112] The Environmental Management and Climate Change Act of 2021 is the first law in this area. It establishes the Climate Change and Environmental Protection Fund; protects the reef and coastline; protects flora and fauna; prevents coastal erosion; ensures food security; regulates soil conservation; regulates critical environmental restoration activities; provides a management system for sensitive fragile ecosystems; assumes protection from pollution and removal of pollution of land, water and air. Nauru Climate Change Policy is adopted in compliance with this law, currently it is calculated until 2030 and provides for the development of agriculture and biodiversity.^[113] The legislation on subsoil and subsoil use in the Republic of Nauru is British, its own Law on Seabed Minerals (International Seabed Minerals Act 2015), as well as Sea Boundaries Act 1997 and National Disaster Risk Management Act 2016 were adopted not so long ago. Phosphate mining on land is regulated by Nauru Phosphate Corporation Act 1969, Nauru Phosphate Agreement Ordinance 1968, Attachment of Earnings and Phosphate Royalties Act 1973, Lands (Review of Land Rental Rates) Order 2014. The remaining regulatory legal acts relate exclusively to fishing and shipping.^[114] Thus, the natural resource law of the Republic of Nauru is focused on granting the right to operate phosphate pits on the island, carried out on the basis of a law and a decree, there are no other subsoil users in Nauru, except Pacific Phosphate Company. The adoption of the International Seabed Minerals Act 2015 indicates the expected beginning of the search for seabed minerals with the prospect of a deeper geological study of the vast shelf of the Republic of Nauru in order to search for hydrocarbon deposits. However, the parliamentarians of the republic and citizens are satisfied with the income from the exploitation of phosphate mines and quarries and are not interested in the intensive development of the use of mineral resources of the continental shelf of this state.

Independent State of Papua New Guinea

New Guinea (Independent State of Papua New Guinea) is a formally independent subject of international law that has passed the German and British–Australian colonial periods, economically and politically dependent on the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland^[115] and is negotiating accession to the United States of America as an unincorporated territory. The state is a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations and embodies the Westminster model of public administration.  

The Republic of the Marshall Islands^[116], the Federated States of Micronesia (Federated States of Micronesia), the Republic of Palau (Republic of Palau)^[117] in 2023 signed an agreement on joining the United States of America as unincorporated Territories^[118] or, to be more precise, the Treaty about Free Association^[119] (The Compacts of Free Association govern the relationshipbetween the United States and the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Republic of Palau)^[120].

The Independent State of Papua New Guinea, which has a functioning constitution (Constitution of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea 1975), ^[121] became the place of signing and updating the treaties of free association of the United States of America with the Micronesian States listed above. It was expected that New Guinea would also be incorporated into the United States on May 23, 2023, however, this did not happen.^[122] One cannot fully agree with Justin Tkachenko, ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, ^[123] regarding his statements about the reasons for the ongoing changes in the quasi-statehood of the islands of Micronesia and Melanesia: minimizing the influence of the People's Republic of China in the Pacific region due to the conflict over the Republic of China (Taiwan). Perhaps the United Kingdom has decided to use the United States for the armed protection of the Territories in question, but in essence the Independent State of Papua New Guinea is a British protectorate and the replacement of the United Kingdom by the United States is not the displacement of the People's Republic of China from the corresponding part of Oceania. Moreover, the Anglo-American coalition has already allowed the settlement of Papua New Guinea by Chinese citizens, which cannot but be called an element of Chinese economic expansion.^[124] The Chinese population as "cuckoo children" are being raised in the economic field of the Papuan islands and not only. In our opinion, the incorporation of sovereign Pacific States into the United States will strive for the model of American Samoa, partly to legalize the military presence, partly to control the economy of the region, as well as for other significant purposes. The natural resources of these territories and water areas, as well as the cheap labor necessary for their exploitation, are the main reason for taking custody of the countries of Melanesia and Micronesia that we have designated.

The position of Steward Firth, indicated in the work "Sovereignty and Independence in the Modern Pacific region" ("Sovereignty and Independence in the Contemporary Pacific")^[125] is doubtful. He argues that the incorporation of the Pacific States has the organizational and legal form of the commonwealth ("commonwealth"), that is, the federation, which cannot be agreed with. Such incorporation is far from even a quasi-confederation or self-governing territory, it is similar by feudal standards to a vassalage, a hidden protectorate, but not to the inclusion of new regions into the United States of America or to the creation of an international organization like the European Union or the British Commonwealth of Nations.       

In international law, it would be necessary to introduce the institution of not only mandated, but also wards of countries (partially sovereign states). We believe that the concept of restriction of sovereignty, both voluntary (at the will of the state itself (the Republic of Palau and others) or its citizens – through a plebiscite (New Caledonia and others), and forced or consensual (incomplete recognition) is promising within the framework of ongoing global processes. The world can be reduced to the emergence of several decision-making centers and agreeing satellites that have joined these centers like stick-fish accompanying a shark or a whale, with the subsequent formation of buffer quasi-states that are being prepared for inclusion in the great powers on the rights of administrative territorial entities. And without polarization, states such as the Pitcairn Islands with a population of fifty people are completely devoid of signs of statehood, their sovereignty is realized by other countries, in relation to Pitcairn – by New Zealand. Papua New Guinea has already been indirectly incorporated into the United Kingdom, which makes it pointless to pedal the direct incorporation of this Territory into the United States with a contractual consolidation of such.   

The abundance of natural resources in the State under consideration led to the indication in the preamble of the Constitution of the need to preserve the natural resources and environment of Papua New Guinea for the benefit of the people and future generations of Papuans, which implies environmental protection, rational use of natural objects and objects of cultural, historical and natural heritage, the maintenance of biological diversity. It should be noted that the second article of the Constitution allows the head of State or Parliament to determine the boundaries of internal sea waters and the territorial sea, from which the length of the continental shelf is calculated. The sovereignty of Papua New Guinea, according to the Constitution, extends to the natural resources of this State within the State border, unless otherwise provided for by the norms of international law freely adopted by this country. This implies the possibility of changing the maritime border contrary to the basic provisions of international maritime law and extending not sovereign rights, but State sovereignty to the corresponding seabed, subsoil and natural resources, including minerals. The sovereignty of the state over natural resources is a feature of Papuan legislation, since in the states of the British Commonwealth of Nations, a legal construction is most often used, where sovereignty over natural resources belongs to the English crown, the state represented by the monarch, either does not belong to anyone or is not mentioned in the legislation. Sovereignty over natural resources is a special formula for securing the rights of the state to the natural resources of the environment, used where they are abundant and there is a high risk of their loss in various ways, and which the state is ready to protect in every possible way.

On the basis of articles 7, 82-85 of the Constitution of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, the head of State is the English monarch with the title of King or Queen of Papua New Guinea. Royal privileges, powers, functions, duties and responsibilities are established by constitutional laws and acts of Parliament. The Head of State is represented by the Governor-General, the Sovereign exercises executive power together with the National Executive Council^[126], headed by the Prime Minister.^[127] The National Unicameral Parliament (National Parliament) is the legislative body of a unitary state, and the administration of justice is carried out by the Supreme Court (performs the functions of interpreting the Constitution and laws), the National Court (the Supreme Court of general jurisdiction), the Lower Courts (courts of administrative-territorial units), the Arbitration Service (arbitration courts), the Master's Service (justices of the peace) and individual magistrates outside the master's service (justices of the peace of rural settlements in which a magistracy has not been formed) by other courts and tribunals established by parliament. Prior to the adoption of Papuan laws and royal acts, Australian laws, as well as the legal doctrines of stare decisis, res judicata, that is, case law, and conflict of laws rules of private international law (Parts 4 and 5 of the Constitution of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea) are in force in the country. The appendix to the Papuan Constitution contains a list of English and Australian laws of direct effect, among them are, in particular, laws concerning the regulation of natural resource relations – the Law on the Continental Shelf of the Australian Commonwealth (Living Natural Resources) (Continental Shelf (Living Natural Resources) Act 1968) — only sections 9 and 14; the Australian Commonwealth Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act 1967-1968) — only section 11; the Australian Commonwealth Submarine Cables and Pipelines Protection Act 1963-1973.^[128]

The National Executive Council includes the Prime Minister, one Deputy Prime Minister and 38 ministries^[129], the Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Climate Change directly manages the use of natural resources.^[130]; Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources (Ministry for Fisheries and Marine Resources)^[131]; Ministry of Lands and Geophysical Planning (Minister for Lands and Physical Planning)^[132]; Ministry of Petroleum and Energy (Ministry of Petroleum and Energy)^[133]; Ministry of Mining (Ministry for Mining)^[134]; Ministry of Forestry (Ministry for Forestry)^[135]; Ministry of Industry and Trade (Ministry of Commerce and Industry).^[136] Note that the latter oversees foreign investments, including in the energy and raw materials sector of the economy, issues appropriate licenses to foreign persons to invest in the economy of Papua New Guinea. Given the problematic nature of relations between the State and the province of Bougainville, the use of minerals in this area is carried out at an accelerated pace.^[137] The Internal Investment Council controls the external and internal investments of this region on the basis of The Bougainville Inward Investment (Amendment) Act 2018. The circle of potential investors is not limited, and their composition is determined by the Internal Investment Council. Thus, the stronger the Chinese economic interest in a particular region, the more actively the Anglo-American coalition exploits its natural resources. Bougainville's Investment Plan has been approved for 2023-2027 (Bougainville Integrated Strategic Development Plan 2023-2027) and involves the escalation of subsoil use with the participation of the state.^[138] This fact indicates an acceleration in the pace of economic returns from the Territory due to the potential withdrawal of Bougainville from the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, as well as due to the possible incorporation or association of Papua New Guinea with the United States of America. The energy policy for 2023-2027 is also being implemented. It predetermined the conclusion of a Trilateral Agreement on Access to Land and Compensation for the Seizure of Land Plots (A tripartite Land Access and Compensation Agreement 2023) in order to accelerate subsoil use in the Melanesian country under consideration.^[139] Lakeville Mines Ltd., despite the declared democracy and the availability of mineral resources for any person, is the only industrial subsoil user of solid mineral deposits and is a party to A tripartite Land Access and Compensation Agreement 2023.^[140] Therefore, it is not assumed that any other subsoil user will seize land plots of the indigenous population in for the purposes of mining. Land, meanwhile, can be in state ownership, the property of private individuals without restriction of turnover and in traditional ownership (historical property of the Papuans). The attitude of the British monarchy to the seizure of Papuan lands, especially in Bougainville, proves once again that in other countries dependent on the United Kingdom, the British government is playing democracy with the local population, allowing them to preserve their culture on traditional lands, limiting their turnover for reservation with subsequent withdrawal, which can occur if necessary in the mode of unceremonious dictatorships. The preservation of the ethnic culture of dependent states contributes to the preservation of poverty and lack of education of the indigenous inhabitants of Oceania, and, as a result, the inability to resist the British monarchy and the American Democrats, closely associated with Buckingham Palace and the aristocratic circles of the United Kingdom, overseeing the global economic expansion of Anglo-American elites and their satellites.

In 1954, the Commonwealth of Australia discovered the largest hydrocarbon deposits in Papua: the Cape Vogel Basin, the Bougainville Basin, the New Ireland and the Northern New Ireland Basin Guinea. Its own legislative framework for their development appeared in an independent state not so long ago, in 1998 the Oil and Gas Act of Papua New Guinea (Oil & Gas Act 1998) was adopted, in 2002 - the Oil and Gas Regulation (Oil & Gas Regulation 2002), and in 2015 – the Law on Unconventional Hydrocarbons (Unconventional Hydrocarbon Act 2015). Control by the Australian Union of Oil and Gas Basins of Papua excludes the interest of the British crown in reducing its influence in the region by transferring the leading role to the United States, which legally withdrew from the power of the Kingdom of Great Britain on September 3, 1783, that is, 240 years ago. The King of the Australian Union, as well as the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is the King of England, which inextricably unites the economies of the two states, turning the Papuan territories into an Australian satellite. The legislation on subsoil and subsoil use in Papua New Guinea, as in the neighboring Republic of Indonesia, is similar for land and sea. You can get acquainted with the content of Papuan regulatory legal acts forming the branch of natural resource legislation on the official website of the Parliament: https://www.parliament.gov.pg/bills-and-legislation .^[141] Considering the actual protectionism of individual subsoil users on the part of the state, consideration of the formally declared existing legal norms governing the granting of the right to use the subsoil is meaningless, because they only formalize political decisions in the complete absence of competition. This means that there is a de facto monopoly in the field of subsurface use in Papua New Guinea, despite the absence of de jure restrictions on access to subsurface resources.

The Treaty between Australia and the Independent State of Papua New Guinea 1978 ^[142] delimits the boundaries of the continental shelf and the exclusive economic zone of the two states, defining the oil and gas and fishing basins of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea.  The Border Development Authority Act (2008) regulates economic activity in the Strait (Torrees Strait) separating the parties to the agreement. Maritime Zones Act (2015) establishes the legal regime of Papuan waters protected from pollution by a separate law – National Maritime Safety Act (2003).  In the waters of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, the environment is monitored, protection from the illegal use of natural resources by the National Intelligence Organization Act 1984, the Defense Department (PNG Defense Force Act 1974), as well as the police (Police Act 1988). Meanwhile, even the Australian special services are unable to control this region due to their insignificant staff, therefore, the US military protects these waters from poachers and other violators. The information of the British and American special services, and not Papuan intelligence, is the basis for controlling the economy of the Torres Strait, coordinating the actions of the American and Australian military to protect nature. The Indonesian Border Agreement Act 1973 establishes the State border between the Republic of Indonesia and the Independent State of Papua New Guinea on land and sea, the Papuan state has no other neighbors.^[143]

Environmental legislation of the Papuans was gradually separated from English and Australian, adopted: Fauna (Protection and Control) Act 1966; Tonda Wildlife Management Area Rules 1976; Fauna (Protection and Control) Maza Wildlife Management Area Rules 1979; Protected Fauna (Amendment) Act 1996; Environment Act 2000; International Trade (Fauna and Flora) (Amendment) Act 2003. They are administered by the Government through the Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Climate Change; and the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources; as well as the Ministry of Lands and Geophysical Planning, which takes into account land rights and urban planning regulation, geophysical surveys of the island territory. The geological study of the seabed and subsurface of underwater areas is supervised by the Joint Ministry of Oil and Energy, as well as the exploitation of minerals in Papuan waters. The Ministry of Mining of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea manages the extraction of metals and minerals on land.

The Mining Law – Mining Act 1992^[144] and the supplement to it Ok Tedi Mine Continuation (Ninth Supplement) Agreement Act 2001 on the continuation of the operation of the Ok Tedi mine regulate the mining industry. Papua abounds in gold, silver, copper, vanadium, nickel, molybdenum, lead and other metals.^[145] Foreign organizations must be registered in the register of foreign investors in order to claim the right to use the subsoil. Subsoil plots are provided for use under the mining law for the extraction of minerals contained in them, which are the property of the state. The 1992 Federal Law combines the previously existing laws on subsoil use.

The Ministry of Oil and Energy in relation to the waters and hydrocarbon deposits of the land, and the Ministry of Mining in relation to solid minerals of the islands are authorized, on the basis of part four of the law (Articles 17-19), to conclude Mining Development Contracts – an agreement for the search for minerals and contracts for geological exploration of the subsoil, including at the expense of state grants.  The terms of subsurface use are determined by the parties to the relevant contract. An exploration license may be issued by these ministries by virtue of article 21 of the Mining Law for a duration of no more than two years with an extension in accordance with article 28 of the same Act for no more than two years. The exploration license is granted to the applicant in the manner specified in articles 20 – 32 of the Mining Law. At the same time, a special mining lease can be granted (special mining lease) for up to forty years and a potential extension of up to twenty. Alluvial lease (alluvial mining lease) is granted for up to five years with the possibility of a one-time extension of no more than five years.

A mining license (Lease for Mining Purposes), according to articles 65-79 of the Mining Law, is granted by authorized ministries for up to twenty years with the possibility of subsequent extension up to ten years, the subsoil user must meet the qualification requirements, have the financial and technical capabilities provided for by law, the conditions for such use of the subsoil are included in the license as an integral part. The subsoil is provided for mining purposes at the request of the subsoil user, a tender or auction is not provided for. The administrative discretion of the authorized ministries is a decisive factor in deciding on a formally acceptable application. In this case, priority is given to the applicant who submitted the application first (Article 100 of the Mining Law).

The Government does not directly grant any licenses in the field of nature management and does not make decisions on granting the right to use the subsoil, the functions are fully assigned to the ministries. The conceptual apparatus of Papuan laws is often equipped with the concepts of "ministry" and "department", even within the framework of one normative legal act, these concepts are used as synonyms and are used alternately, which is a feature of the Papuan legal technique.

Ministries authorized to grant the right to use the subsoil, for a period not exceeding the license period, with the possibility of extending no longer than the term of the extended license, may "assign" a subsoil user, that is, encumber the right to use the subsoil with the same right of another person at his request. This feature of the legislation on subsoil and subsoil use is not found in Polynesia, and in Melanesia, the Independent State of Papua New Guinea is the only country where it exists. The institution of attracting an additional subsoil user to an already granted license area of the subsoil is called a "mining easement", since it encumbers the license holder with the rights of a third party to the same license area. Within the meaning of the Mining Law, which does not differentiate the licensing of subsurface areas of land and sea, the encumbrance of easements is assumed in relation to subsurface areas of islands on which mining is carried out, and not the search or exploration of minerals. This is indicated by both the terminology used by the legislator and the procedure for establishing the boundaries of the easement, which is described by contours within the land plot. Moreover, the terms of establishing easements fit into the terms of mining onshore licenses, but do not coincide with the terms of marine licenses for exploration or development. An applicant applying for an easement, like any other applicant for the right to use mineral resources, pays a state fee for consideration of his application to the relevant ministry.

Payments for the use of mineral resources (fees) established by the Mining Law and included in the license; rent (rents) – rental royalties for the use of mineral resources; as well as royalties (royalties) – payments to the state derived from the volume of extracted minerals; paid by the license holder in accordance with Articles 146 – 149 of the Mining Law and the special Law on Royalties for subsoil use (Mining (Royalties) Act 1992). The turnover of gold is licensed, licenses are issued for the export of gold, payments from the sale of gold relate to payments for the use of mineral resources.^[146] The Mining Act of 1992 regulates the entire spectrum of subsurface use, except for the regulated Mining (Bougainville Copper Agreelnent) Act and the Mining Development Act, as well as the Mining (Ok Tedi Agreeinent) Act and ten amendments thereto, which is indicated in the second appendix to the Mining Law. The Mining (Safety) Act^[147] regulates mining supervision. Consequently, subsoil use in Papua New Guinea is regulated by one general law and special ones, mainly reflecting particular cases of granting subsoil for use on the basis of licenses issued by virtue of an individual regulatory legal act in the form of a law, as with the Ok Tedi mine or the Bougainville copper deposit.

The subsoil in the state under consideration is provided on the basis of the law (by decision of the Parliament and the English monarch), on the basis of a ministerial license or an agreement between the ministry and the subsoil user. Thus, in the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, natural resource law provides for all existing systems of granting the right to use subsoil: administrative, contractual and mixed, existing and applied in parallel.^[148]

Republic of Indonesia

The legal regime of subsurface use in the Republic of Indonesia is discussed in detail in one of the recent publications of the publishing house.^[149] Indonesian natural resource law, formed in the Dutch manner, largely determined the unified subsoil use regime on the island territory and in the waters of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea. This situation is dictated by the ethnic composition of the indigenous population, which has been more influenced by Dutch than English influence. The displacement of the historically established mining norms of the English natural resource legislation is nothing more than the desire for self-determination of the Papuans. The formation of one state on the island of New Guinea, that is, the reunification of Papua New Guinea with the Indonesians, would lead to the formation of an economically powerful state with enormous human and resource potential, capable of displacing Japan on world markets. The land of the rising sun, under the influence of the United States of America, protects the interests of the ward state by trying to take control of the East Papuan lands - a springboard for expansion into the West Papua – Indonesian part of the island of New Guinea. Australia, in turn, retained not ideological, as N.N. Miklukho-Maklay claims, but economic influence on the Papuan territory.^[150] Thus, there is competition between the United States and the United Kingdom for natural resource bases in Oceania. Meanwhile, Oceania remains divided between the French Republic, the United States of America, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, broadcasting their natural resource law in the Pacific Ocean with adaptation to local conditions that determine the peculiarities of legal regulation of nature use and environmental protection.   

 ***

The study of the peculiarities of the natural resource law of Melanesia makes it possible to study the legal regimes of nature management of the Melanesian states, both for legislative, scientific, educational, and economic, and other types of activities. Proposals to use the experience of the Solomon Islands, as well as other Melanesian jurisdictions in the field of subsoil use regulation can significantly improve the Russian legislation on subsoil, state management of subsoil use. The simultaneous application by the legislator of contractual, administrative, mixed and directive (through the adoption of a regulatory legal act on the provision of a natural object for use) methods of granting the right to use the subsoil is proposed to be considered the best practice that ensures the flexibility of the state natural resource mechanism and increases the efficiency of the state apparatus. We propose using the Australian understanding of the norms of international law adopted on Antarctic territories by analogy to the Russian side in the practice of international relations, in particular, when it is necessary to extend the law of the Russian Federation to disputed territories and water areas, as well as to areas of the globe in respect of which an international legal regime has been established.